HER Scholar Graduates and Shares her Story

Stingl: ‘Victory in motion’ — Widow with 9 kids graduates from Mount Mary and hopes to help other women

This story about Bridgett Wilder did not come to me from Bridgett herself or even from Mount Mary University where she just graduated. Someone who doesn’t know Bridgett but heard her commencement address sent me an email saying you have to share this woman’s remarkable journey and accomplishments. “Bridgett talked about becoming a widow at 36 with nine children. The oldest was 16 and the youngest was 4 months. There was a loud collective gasp in the gym,” wrote Kathleen Callan Brady, who was there for her own daughter’s graduation. “I refused to give up,” Bridgett, now 45, said in that same speech. “I stand tall. I stand strong. I am victory in motion.”